View full sizeThe Associated Press/fileTo sell more candy, The Hershey Co. is spending a lot of time in grocery and other retail stores these days to get inside customers’ heads.

CEO David J. West is so sold on this kind of grocery aisle consumer research that he told a conference of food analysts Tuesday that the results would give Hershey a "competitive advantage in our category for years to come."

Already, Hershey has psychological profiles on its array of customers.

Perhaps you are a "loyal indulger," a chocolate-craving consumer driven to Hershey’s iconic brands by the strong emotional attachments they hold. If so, you’re already sold.

But the Derry Twp. maker of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Hershey’s chocolate bars has its work cut out when it comes to wooing those "practical value seekers" and the dreaded "detached occasionalists."

They could go either way when spotting a Kit Kat at the checkout or spying a bag of Twizzlers at Walmart.

For these shoppers to splurge, almost everything has to be perfect — price, packaging, product display — or they’ll zoom past without adding any Hershey’s candy to their grocery carts.

After four straight years of increasing advertising spending, which should top $300 million this year, Hershey is putting its marketing money where consumers spend theirs: in the grocery and retails outlets where its candy is sold in the aisles and at the registers.

Armed with reams of research, Hershey is out to change the look, feel and ease of retail buying experiences.

Under the initiative dubbed "Insights Driven Performance," Hershey plans to partner with key retailers to put its "deep knowledge of consumer behavior and shopper preferences" into action.

In short, West said Hershey is out to win the candy war one customer and one store at a time. And he’s hoping the results will be sweeter profits and greater growth. "We believe it is breaking new grounds in confections," he told food industry analysts at the 2010 Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference in Boca Raton, Fla.

But West stopped short of saying how Hershey would remake the candy aisle and the register checkout.

In pilots to be conducted this year in retail stores, it will be testing fancy front-end displays intended to lure shoppers as soon as they enter stores.

New register racks will dangle more candy at eye level — right over the conveyor belt — while relegating magazines and the National Inquirer to less prominent positions.

Candy aisles will be color-coded, categorized and segmented so consumers can go right to the Hershey’s product in exactly the desired packaging in order to satisfy their craving and lessen the chance they’ll go away empty-handed.

Hershey will be testing new ways of communicating — everything from digital displays on "smart" shopping carts to sending promotions to smart phones — intended to increase consumers’ emotional interactions with Hershey brands while they’re in the store.

"We’re very excited about the progress we are making here," said West, adding that if the tests take off, Hershey’s retail revolution could roll into stores next year.

By then, Hershey also will have some new products in those candy aisles.

Referring to a robust innovation pipeline, West said Hershey’s plans to unveil several more hand-to-mouth candy products this year, building on the recent expansion of the Reese’s Pieces line into York peppermint patties, Almond Joy and Mounds Pieces.

Next up in this category will be Reese’s "mini-minis." They will retain the Reese’s traditional cup shape, while being small enough to pop into the mouth. Similarly, Hershey’s Drops will be a small, readily consumable version of Hershey’s chocolate.

And while Hershey came up short in its bid to go global by acquiring British chocolate maker Cadbury, West expressed confidence in the company’s strategy of "organic" global growth through smaller acquisitions and partnerships with regional candy players.

"Hershey admittedly was late to enter markets outside the U.S.," West said, noting that just 14 percent of its $5.3 billion in revenues comes from outside America. Yet he predicted that Hershey could reach $1 billion in international revenue within five years.

"That is achievable and would give us a business of some size," he said. "Our international strategy is working."

In a sign that Hershey better understands consumers in places such as China, West played a TV ad for Kisses, showing the familiar silver-wrapped treats outfitted in gold wrappings because the color is more attractive to the Chinese. "It’s more to their liking," he said.

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